BOSTON -- The Boston Archdiocese's chief financial officer said the Catholic diocese can't afford to pay for a multimillion-dollar sexual abuse settlement it agreed to in March.
Chancellor David Smith testified Aug. 5 during a hearing to determine whether the settlement -- worth $15 million to $30 million -- is binding, according to The Associated Press.
The archdiocese, at the center of the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal, has used more than half of a $17.5 million line of credit to pay daily operating expenses, Smith said.
"We owe $9 million of that to the bank, and they've said ‘no more,'" Smith told the AP.
The archdiocese backed out of the settlement with 86 alleged victims in May after its finance council refused to fund it. The council claimed the deal was too expensive in light of hundreds of other pending or expected abuse-related lawsuits.
Increasing legal fees and a drop in donations prompted the archdiocese to cut its budget by a third in June, eliminating 15 jobs and cutting aid to parishes, schools and hospitals.
